tv The Reid Out MSNBC October 17, 2023 4:00pm-5:01pm PDT
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votes cast by surname, the speaker has not been elected. >> wah-wah, jim jordan's maga dreams of holding the speaker's gavel come up short. tonight, the house is still without a speaker. this kind of incompetence would never have happened in nancy pelosi's democratic caucus, and tonight, the speaker emaitous joins me live, plus, horrific bloodshed in gaza ozhundreds of people are killed in a powerful explosion at a gaza city hospital. >> but we begin tonight with an unprecedented juxtaposition of crises. an intensifying israel/hamas war with president biden en route to the region, and with the house of representatives trying to elect a speaker after two weeks without one. we're also one month from a potential government shutdown. the chaos on capitol hill has stalled any attempt at congressional funding for the middle east or ukraine or anything else the federal
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government might want to deal with, while republicans try to get their act together. earlier today, jim jordan fell short of the 217 votes he needed on his first vote. getting just 200. which is pretty remarkable, considering that while republicans are still struggling to get the maga insurrectionist jordan installed as speaker, the justice department is appealing the sentences of some of the violent right-wing maga militia members who planned and carried out the attack on our capitol on january 6th, 2021. including former proud boys chairman enrique tarrio, who received the longest sentence for his role, 22 years. prosecutors had requested a 33-year sentence for tarrio. more than 1100 people have faced criminal charges for the attack on the capitol or efforts to overthrow the election leading up to january 6th. including donald trump himself. so there is every reason that congressman jim jordan should receive the same amount of scrutiny. the final report from the january 6th committee states
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unequivocally, representative jordan was a significant player in president trump's efforts, the list of his transgressions is exhaustive. he led a conference call with donald trump and other members of congress about delaying the electoral vote proceedings. and the day before the attack, jordan texted white house chief of staff mark meadows about how vice president mike pence could reject electoral votes. jordan also spoke with trump by phone at least twice on january 6th but has never given a straight answer about it. >> did you talk to the former president that day? >> i talked to the former president umpteen times, countless times. i continue to talk to the president. >> i mean on january 6th, congressman. >> yes. >> on january 6th, did you speak with him before, during, or after the capitol was attacked? >> i would have to go -- i spoke with him that day after. i think after. i don't know if i spoke with him
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in the morning or not. i just don't know. >> i talked to him that day. my understanding is, from my memory, i talked to him after the attack happened and we were moved to the chamber. i may have talked to him before. i don't know. >> after, something. since then, he's also refused to say whether during any of those conversations he bothered to ask for help for the capitol despite the threats to members of congress, the staff, including his, the vice president, and one of the mob's deliberately sought targets, then house speaker, nancy pelosi. >> where are you nancy? we're looking for you. >> nancy! oh, nancy. nancy. where are you, nancy? >> and as the mob laid siege to the capitol, footage shows frantic staffers fleeing republican leader kevin mccarthy's office. it wasn't just leadership who were fearful that day,
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apparently, jim jordan was too. congresswoman liz cheney confirms reports she smacked down his offer for help during the attack and told him, quote, get away from me. you blanking did this. in the days following january 6th, jim jordan spoke with white house staff about presidential pardons for members of congress, and later refused to comply with subpoenas from the house's january 6th committee. republicans have dismissed questions over his very well documented role on january 6th, as they march straight ahead, trying to elect him speaker of the house. and i would like you to answer that, whatever happens going forward, 200 republicans chose to vote for somebody who was at some level involved in orchestrating a coup. a coup that involved attacking the very chamber they sit in, with the goal of harming them and their fellow members of congress. it is historically notable that republicans are choosing to even try to make that person speaker
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of the house of representatives and to put him second in line to the presidency. i would say it's almost hard to believe, except this is the maga republican party. the house will pick up again tomorrow morning at 11:00 a.m. with another effort to pick a speaker. joining me now is sahil kapur, nbc news senior national political recorder and denver riggleman, a former republican congressman from virginia who is now an independent. sahil, i want to start with you first. first of all, what is the status of the attempts to corral votes for jim jordan? let's start there. >> reporter: it's a bit of a mess right now, joy. jim jordan's team did not expect there to be 20 defections. they certainly did not expect to be dealing with 20 defections from such a cross section of their republican conference. you have appropriators in there, swing district members, conservatives who are generally known as team players with the republican party who oppose him. so jordan had some meetings with
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leadership allies. he said he's going to continue working members, talking to them. they are expected to have another vote tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. on a second ballot. and that's going to be a crucial inflection point. he's going to have to show he can make progress here, that he can improve his vote count rather than potentially lose more votes, which is also a possibility that some members think is in the cards or his speakership bid could collapse quickly. it's not over yet. there is no backup plan if jim jordan doesn't get it and the house republicans are in a very perilous situation at this time. >> and your reporting, sahil, is democrats are actually setting up and poised to take full advantage if somehow jim jordan gets the votes. tell us about that. >> reporter: yeah, they absolutely are. democrats are already crafting a message and a strategy to tie the entire republican party to jim jordan, to argue that there are no moderates left in the house republican conference, that they're all beholden to an extremist, to radicals.
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they're going to tie republicans to jordan, to trump. they're bringing up the january 6th insurrection. which is not -- jordan was one of more than 140 republicans who voted to block the certification of some of joe biden's electors but it was more than that. he was involved in some of the conversations with former president trump at the time. he kind of spoke out at rallies and took that message that the election was stolen out on the road, which of course, we know to be a lie. so democrats do see a political opportunity there if jordan is speaker to try to tie every republican to his brand of politics. it's unclear at this moment whether he will get there. and if he doesn't, then there are already conversations happening including among democrats as to whether there should be some kind of caretaker speaker, someone like patrick mchenry is a person who democrats respect. the minority leader hakeem jeffries said all options are on the table when it comes to temporarily or permanently finding a bipartisan path to a speaker. unlikely at the moment, but that
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option could come into play as things get desperate. the government shuts down in one month from today if there's no action, and there's a ground swell of support for some action to help israel as it deals with that hohisk attack from hamas. >> denver, i want to play jim jordan. and not from, like, months ago or a year ago when maybe he still had hurt feelings about the results of the election, but literally, this morning. here he is. not willing to say the election wasn't stolen. >> what would you say that the election was stolen? >> denver, you were an investigator on the january 6th committee. that man, liz cheney blames in large part for what happened. she said he knew what was coming, didn't warn his colleagues or even his own staff, presumably, and yet he had run with everyone else.
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what do you make of the fact that this man, who is an insurrectionist or at least insurrection curious, is the person 200 republicans think should be speaker. he still won't say the election was legitimate. >> no, i think watching that, joy, sometimes i get pretty blunt. but it almost seems like he's a fish that doesn't want to piss off his great white shark which is trump. the fact is i saw the evidence. liz is correct. i was the first one to see the text message. if you think about it, joy, i was the first one to see it beside jim and besides mark meadows. when i saw that text message, i realized pretty quickly where it came from. a lot of people need to realize the fact jim jordan was getting his message from qanon believers and some of the craziest individuals. do we want somebody leading a conference that believes in the craziest things that weaponizes insanity or monetized insanity or protects somebody like donald trump who was well behind, we know who was behind instigating
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this ridiculousness on january 6th. i know it's unprecedented what happened with the speaker vote and what happened to mccarthy, but i don't think it's a shock or a surprise. you talked about maga republicans, trying to keep away from saying that at times but now we're looking at 200 of some of my former colleagues, some who voted to actually not object to the electors voting for jim jordan because they're afraid. i think we have a coward's caucus now. i don't think there's anybody there who can rise up against their base and actually push back on how bad january 6th was and the fact is i saw the data. i do have an inside track on what happened and i think it's egregious. it's something we have to address now. we can't have the unserious and those who think what happened on january 6th which was some kind of tourist visit voting in our country. >> denver, let me ask you this. one of the roles that speaker pelosi played on january 6th, she was frantically calling the vice president, checking as to
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his safety. she had to scramble to shore up security in the capitol and do what she could. the president wasn't helping. you as somebody who investigated this crime against our country, what do you make of the idea that jim jordan could be the person responsible for the security of the capitol when, as you said, he gets his information from trump and qanon, and doesn't believe the election was legitimate? that person would then be in charge of the safety of all 435 members of congress? is that something that you can even wrap your mind around? >> it's terrifying to the sane and terrifying to the rational. how could you have somebody as speaker of the house who voted to object to the electors? what does that vote mean? it means somebody believes italian satellites switched the vote or they were burning ballot in vans or nsa was involved or they rur routing into chinese
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servers or ginni thomas texted, you have to believe that tripe, that ridiculousness to go on the floor of congress and vote against the electors on january 6th, the night after that violence. and to me, it's mind boggling. it's almost as if, you know, i don't want to get crazy, beutit's almost as if ignorance has been weaponized on a level that's hard to stop. when you have 200 of my former colleagues voting for somebody like jim jordan who can't even say the election was stolen. you played that clip today because he's afraid to piss off the base or make trump mad over in mar-a-lago, i have a feeling there's got to be some kind of push towards rationality and sanity, and i think right now, somebody like a mchenry or somebody like that is sort of a consensus pick as a way to go. >> let me put up a list of the last republican five speakers. of course, kevin mccarthy lasted not too long. paul ryan, john boehner, the last sort of normie republican
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speakers, and newt gingrich who blew up congress because that was his role. and then denis hastert sticks out. we know the scandal, sex abuse crimes and hush money that took him down. and yet, here is elise stefanik, the conference chair of the republican party, talking about jim jordan today. >> whether on the wrestling mat or in the committee room, jim jordan is strategic, scrappy, tough, and principled. >> sahil, we know that jim jordan's other scandal is the allegation that he turned a blind eye to sex abuse when he was an assistant coach in ohio. is the republican conference -- are they having any conversations about even the way they publicly present his candidacy? if that's the sale pitch and she got laughs by saying that.
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internally, is there anyone coordinating this effort other than sean hannity? >> joy, i was in the chamber at the time, and i heard the shouts and oohs from the democratic side of the aisle when she brought up jim jordan's wrestling past. this is an issue that jordan's critics on the democratic side have pointed out, but it's not registering on the republican side. it's not an issue for jordan's opponents. none of them have really cited that as a basis for, you know, voting against him. jordan has denied the allegations. i do want to mention, you guys were talking about the republicans and the divisions within the party. there's all this talk about a republican civil war. the war is over. the maga forces have won. we have seen the critics of donald trump and the maga movement slowly banished from the party, slowly being excommunicated and leaving. they're right now negotiating the terms of the surrender. what we saw today is 20 members saying they're not going to do an unconditional surrender after they feel their side was badly mistreated. >> sahil kapur and denver
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riggleman, what a time to be alive. thank you very much. stay tuned to hear nancy pelosi's thoughts on the republican speaker mess when she joins me here on set later in the show. but up first, as president biden begins his trip to israel, a powerful explosion hits a gaza hospital today, killing hundreds of people. "the reidout" continues after this. eidout" continues after this
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today, the death toll rose significantly in a horrific attack in gaza. the palestinian health ministry said 200 to 300 people were killed in what it called a targeted bombing of the baptist hospital. doctors without borders said the hospital was hosting displaced gazans and treating injured patients when the bombing occurred. the israeli military denied that the hospital was one of its targets. this comes as president biden is heading to israel in a show of solidarity as its military
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prepares a ground offensive against hamas. the trip will put the president in the middle of an active war zone for the second time this year. biden, however, is no longer scheduled to travel to jordan on wednesday. after he visits israel. after consulting with king abdullah of jordan and in light of the days of mourning announced by president abbas of the palestinian authority, president biden will postpone the summit with these two leaders and president cece of egypt. a jordanian official said all parties agreed to the cancellation, saying the summit would not achieve any goals under the current circumstances. let's bring in chief foreign correspondent richard engle near the israeli/gaza border. richard, thank you for being here. so we know that there is a sort of both sides pointing the finger at one another in terms of this horrific bombing of a hospital in gaza. raf sanchez was on earlier, our correspondent who was saying that hamas does not have the kind of munitions that could do
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this kind of damage. what do we know, and only the israeli military know, what do we know about the source of that bombing? >> reporter: well, the two sides are pointing -- blaming each other. you have the israelis saying that this was a rocket that misfired, it was a rocket fired by the palestinian islamic jihad, which is a rival group in gaza. and they have released some footage showing what looks like a rocket that appears to take an unusual turn and then crash somewhere in the gaza strip. and it doesn't have to be a very large rocket to cause a large number of casualties when people are packed on top of each other, as they apparently were at this hospital. not inside the hospital itself, but in the courtyard, in the parking area, all around the hospital. people are gathering at hospitals. they're gathering at mosques, at
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u.n. schools. they're gathering at any place where they believe that the israelis won't strike. it is possible that if a rocket misfired and exploded in such a crowded area, that it could cause a large number of casualties. the palestinians are talking about 500 dead. initially they talked about 200 or 300. they later upped that number to 500. it is unlikely that a rocket, a crude rocket fired by palestinian group could cause that number of casualties. but that number could also be exaggerated. it could be that a smaller number of people were killed and that it is possible that it was caused by a misfire of a rocket. these rockets are not particularly sophisticated. a lot of them are homemade. but the palestinians don't believe that. they say this was an israeli air strike, and if you're in gaza, that is also a logical conclusion because most of what you're seeing around you are israeli air strikes targeting apartment buildings, targeting tunnels, targeting hamas
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locations. when you're on the ground, something explodes, it is natural that you would assume it was fired by the israelis. the israeli military also says it has intercepts of the militants talking about this. so israel is trying to build a case, and it says it will present its evidence to president biden when he comes. and i'm sure they will be releasing it to the public as well, which they have already begun to do. >> nbc's richard engel, thank you. joining me is nicholas kristof, columnist for "the new york times." thank you so much for being here. we know that this attack on the hospital has touched off protests and outrage all around the world and in the region. queen rania of jordan who is herself palestinian, issued a statement condemning it. and despite what the israeli government is saying, you know, including the government of egypt and others are very clear in their statements that they
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believe it was an israeli attack. but whatever the source of it was, what does this do to this already horrific and caustic situation? >> well, you're right. i certainly don't know who was behind that rocket. but we do know that hamas has no credibility on such things. nor islamic jihad, but israel also has lost a great deal of credibility in the past when last year a palestinian american journalist was killed by israeli soldiers, and initially they were denying it. so both sides have, you know, rather impaired credibility on this thing. and as you suggest, two things we know are that there are a lot of dead civilians, real tragedy, and also this is inflaming the anti-american sentiment and the
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sympathy for the people of gaza around the region. king abdullah has it sure looks as if he has canceled president biden's visit. this will increase the pressure on hezbollah to get involved on the northern border of israel. it will increase the pressure in egypt, the instability in jordan and so on. just a tragedy all around. >> let me quickly play raf sanchez's reporting on this matter. here he is talking earlier with nicolle wallace. >> reporter: this kind of death toll is not what you normally associate with palestinian rockets. these rockets are dangerous. they are deadly. they do not tend to kill hundreds of people in a single strike in the way that israeli high explosives, especially these bunker buster bombs that are used to target these hamas tunnels under gaza city, do have the potential to kill hundreds of people. and we should say finally, that
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there are instances in the past where the israeli military has said things in the immediate aftermath of an incident that have turned out not to be true in the long run. >> as you sort of reiterated. but president biden is going to be in the region now. the fact that he now is not going to be meeting with the jordanians, the egyptians, what can he accomplish and what do you think his trip now, the purpose of it will be? >> so i think it complicates the trip. you know, certainly, in the region, there's been this perception that president biden was failing to call for restraint on the part of israel and its assault on gaza and that there should have been a little more even handedness from the administration. now too, its credit, president biden has to some degree walked that back. he has suggested it would be a
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real mistake to occupy gaza once more. you have the sense other administration officials and likewise are talking about the laws of war and so on, but those initial statements without calling for restraint, i think, left a deep sense in the region and in many other countries that the united states, you know, bears some of the responsibility for whatever happens in gaza. and going to just israel and not to jordan, for example, i think that tends to accentuate that. >> let's talk about what's happening inside the united states where the conversation has not been measured in some instances including some people with real governmental responsibility. let me play for you lindsey graham, jesse waters, and ron desantis. >> i don't think we can have a palestinian state at this point. i have had it with the palestinians. i have given up on the palestinians. if i was in israel, i wouldn't
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be talking about a palestinian state. i don't like how people tried to differentiate between the palestinians and hamas. to me, i see people with guns. that's hamas. the people without the guns are the palestinians. they believe the same thing. >> we're in a religious war here. i'm with israel. do whatever the hell you have to do to defend yourself. level the place. >> if you look at how they behave, not all of them are hamas, but they are all anti-semitic. >> just grouping all palestinians together, they're all hamas, level the place. we're in a religious war. we just had a 6-year-old boy stabbed 26 times and his mother stabbed, and he's dead, the mom is in the hospital. this rhetoric inside the united states, i wonder how that impacts what's happening overseas. >> i mean, i think that kind of rhetoric certainly enflames the islamophoia that leads someone
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to stab a 6-year-old boy more than 20 times and it just, you know, look, as somebody who covered the tragedy on both sides of the border, it breaks my heart. the degree of suffering in southern israel, that was real. that was an outrage, that was terrorism. on the other hand, there are -- the idea of equating hamas and saying -- suggesting every gazan is to blame somehow, half the population of gaza is under 18. these are kids who are dying. how are these kids to be held responsible and to be killed for what hamas, which frankly oppresses gaza, does? when your moral compass is attuned to the suffering only in israel or only in gaza, then you have a broken moral compass. >> yeah, and lindsey graham flatten the place means 2 million people would be dead. i'm not sure that's a responsible thing for a federal official to say. but he said it. nicholas kristof, thank you so much.
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and hopefully they can confine it to just one complaint, arizona, and we can vote and that would be, you know, then just move forward with the rest of the states. the overriding wish is to do it at the capitol. what we're being told very directly is it's going to take days for the capitol to be okay again. >> during the january 6th insurrection, as the violent mob stormed and ransacked the capitol, it was then speaker nancy pelosi who took charge. making calls to the vice president and other leaders to bring in the national guard and quell the riot. you know, what the president should have been doing. fast forward to today and the house republican conference is now in the process of possibly elevating a congressman to the speakership who liz cheney herself said partially bears responsibility for what happened that day. extraordinary. joining me now is house speaker emerita nancy pelosi. thank you so much for being here. always a pleasure.
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when i go back and watch that footage of you that day, it is a reminder that the speaker is second in line to the presidency. and when you had a president who was refusing to be president, and you had a vice president who was hiding and fearing for his life, it was the speaker who had to take charge. and you did that. the idea that the person in that position, if somebody catastrophic were to happen to the capitol again would be an insurrectionist, somebody on the side of the insurrectionists, i can't wrap my mind around it fully. and i wonder what you make of it. >> first, let me say, chuck schumer, we were there together. >> yes. >> together, calling the president, asking him, really beseeching him to send the national guard. talking to the then secretary of defense and asking him. and the secretary of the army, mccarthy was his name, to send -- and they just weren't
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doing it. and then they would lie about it, that's their thing. and again, mitch mcconnell was even with us, taking it back to the capitol, taking it back to the capitol. so these -- this house republicans were just -- they didn't have any interest in the peaceful transfer of power. they were in denial about the election. and for all of the horror of that day, the violence, the desecration of the capitol, this temple of democracy in the world, the violation of our constitution, to have that day be the acceptance of the electoral college vote. the whole thing, the assault on our democracy, after we went back to the capitol, took the vote, overwhelmingly, the republicans voted against accepting the results of the electoral college. >> yeah. >> and this person that they're putting forth to be speaker of
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the house, it's just appalling. >> today, he was asked, do you accept the results of the election? he wouldn't answer that question today. i have walked through that capitol with you. and i can see how much you revere that building. how much you look around and feel the awe of it and the awe of your position. there's nothing in that in this person. liz cheney literally called him out by name as somebody who in her view was involved in the plot to overturn the election. have any republicans come to you privately and said, we understand, ken buck has said it publicly, we cannot elevate somebody who does not accept the results of the election and was part of the insurrection. he's said he can't do it. have any republicans come to you privately and said this cannot happen and we won't let it happen. >> no, but the fact is that the republican -- mr. jordan and his friends do a real disservice to
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their members on the republican side to call upon them once, maybe more, we'll see tomorrow, to vote for such a person for speaker. they're going to have to answer to their conscience, to their children, to their own legacy for doing something so disreputable. for some of them, it's a good match. some are right in there with him, but for some of them, you can see this has to be very painful for them. we're rather thinking we don't agonize. we organize. we have to get going for the next election. just think of how recent it was when kevin had 15 votes to become speaker. it was, what, ten months ago, in that period of time, pretty soon, we'll have hakeem jeffries and voting for him, very proudly, for what he's doing for the people, honoring the oath of office to protect and defend the constitution of the united states. they are for the people and not
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a person, this other person that they're nominating, jordan, doesn't have any legislation. never passed legislation. his big bill is to criminalize a woman's right to choose with no exceptions, with no exceptions. the harshest possible position. again, not accepting the results of the election. but voting, again, you see these people voting for him when he voted against disaster assistance when fires came to the area, when storms and hurricanes and just, well, that's why you see some people voting against him from new york, but there are many others voting against the interest of their constituents because you know why? the instigator of the insurrection, donald trump, has asked them to. >> let me play what another former speaker, john boehner, had to say about jim jordan. here he is. >> you call some of these members political terrorists.
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>> oh, yeah. jim jordan especially. my colleague from ohio. i just never saw a guy who spent more time tearing things apart, never building anything. never putting anything together. >> kevin mccarthy with the exact same majority that you had and you were able to be very effective as speaker with that majority, he couldn't do anything. he couldn't accomplish a thing other than get himself ousted when he was speaker. what would the house of representatives look like with somebody who john boehner has called a political terrorist in charge? what would happen? are we going to have a government shutdown? what happens? >> let me say, first of all, i had a majority of two. there were five and then there were four and then three. >> then two. >> yeah. so it was an even slimmer majority than what they have. but let's just take it to the public. president lincoln said, public
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sentiment is everything. with it you can accomplish almost anything. without it, practically nothing. the public has to understand what is at stake. our democracy is at stake. what have the republicans accomplished at all, even when they had a president in the white house. >> enormous tax cuts for the rich. >> 87% of the benefits went to the top 1%, and it added $2 trillion to the national debt. >> it did. >> they give that kind of break to the top 1%, while they take 30% of food from the mouths of babies, they take 80% from title i education for children in poor economic deprived areas. they take -- the list goes on and on. and you know what? just about every one of them voted every way that way. now, some of them have said this is a bridge too far for our democracy. and we respect differences of
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opinion. >> sure. >> that's our democracy. we welcome the fray, the conversation, the debate. it's not a question of i don't like what you believe so therefore you're not right. no, that's your right. you represent your district, and that's it. but if you're not honoring the oath of office, if you don't respect our democracy, that is a line that cannot be crossed. >> well said. i want to give you an opportunity, since i have you here, i'm lucky enough to have you here, to let you comment on what is happening in israel. the president is on his way there. he will not be meeting with the leaders of jordan and egypt because of that hospital bombing. your thoughts on what's happening? >> the president of the united states has been excellent. i mean, just think -- well, i'm very proud of his domestic agenda, but globally, he brought nato together, in fact, nato is
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stronger despite what putin thought would happen. he brought people together, listening, countries together. not condusending, america wants this. let's work together on how we can fight for democracy in ukraine and help the ukrainians and god bless them for their courage. and with israel, i love when somebody said the other day, nobody wrote that speech for him. israel is our friend in the region, shared values, a national security interest of ours and theirs. so he has given his full support, as do i, to israel in this. what hamas did was outside the circle of civilized human behavior. what they did was barbaric. it was barbaric. and people said, well, they did it because of this. no, they did it. it was barbaric. now, i have confidence in the people of israel. i always tell the story of when
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john was there as speaker, i went to visit a hospital, and they told me they had just treated a palestinian who had done violence there. and they said we treated a jewish person and the palestinian the same. we didn't treat the palestinian because he was jewish. we treated him well because we are jewish. i believe that overwhelmingly, the people of israel don't want to see children and women and families disrupted, but war is war. and hamas must pay a price for this. i'll just tell you -- >> we have to go. i'll have to let you talk to me off air because we're on a time crunch. >> i would rather talk about israel than jim jordan. anyway. let's pray that life will be valued as precious all over. >> indeed, well said.
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appreciate that every single palestinian child looks like oh dear. when we mourn our dear, we are mourning all of those children. >> that was a powerful moment outside the funeral of -- the six-year-old palestinian boy stabbed 26 times, murdered as a direct result of the israel hamas war. tensions are high throughout the country with both muslim and jewish americans facing increased threats. to many americans, the conflict in the middle east is deeply personal. but despite the fraught environment, in their faith communities have come together, including a group of chicago rabbis who attended wadea's funeral yesterday at the mosque foundation in illinois. rabbi ari heart posted a photo of the mosque iman, writing, quote, i can say that it was simple to be there. these are not simple times, but the murder of a six-year-old because of his faith and his
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identity is not complicated. it is a heinous crime. and that is why we went today. rabbi hart joins me now. rabbi, thank you for being here. can you walk us through your decision to attend what wadea's funeral? >> sure, thank you for having me. >> of course. >> like you said, so many of us are in so much pain. there is such deep pain in my community. everything that is unfolding a couple thousand miles away is unfolding to our families in our hearts. we are consumed by it. there is our member of our community being held hostage in gaza right now. we pray for his safety. everybody knows someone who was murdered, moved to shelters, et cetera. it's a moment of a lot of pain, like you said. then we heard about this horrific attack, and it is a nightmare. i have children, five and ten, two boats, wadea's age. to imagine my children being
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murdered for his beliefs, for his nationality, it's unthinkable, and it is wrong. people of conscious need to stand up against the terror attacks targeting children, wherever they are, whoever they are, and we felt that we needed to go and lend our support. i am grateful to the leadership of the mosque, because when we reached out, we said, we're different. we are orthodox jews. we believe in israel's right to exist. we feel horrible about what happened, and would it be okay if we came. if it's not, we will not come. the last impede would want is to cause more suffering, and the leadership said, yes, please come. so we went, and it was tremendously powerful and challenging and difficult and the right thing to do. >> you know, it has been a difficult couple of weeks, hard to make time work anymore, how long it's even been, but we
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know that even over the course of this past year, both jewish americans and muslims have been at the top of the list in terms of hate crimes. there have been tremendous amounts of hate crimes against these two groups. religion is supposed to be something that brings about peace, and these are two abrahamic religions, cousin religions along with christiane. i wonder if you as a rabbi, how you process the fact that there is a constant hate around religion rather than what you're supposed to be, which is love? >> with 99.9% of jews, 99.9% of muslims, and 99.9% of christians, it's love. i see that, and i am blessed to have relationships and friendships with all religions --
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it's hard to remember that sometimes, but humanity is good. and there are things that are evil. there is also evil, and what happened there is evil. it's hard very -- very hard sometimes to hold both of those truths that people are good, and there is even. but i think in these moments, we have to remind ourselves of the goodness and reach out and find the goodness and build up the goodness. that is all of our jobs in the dark times. that's what we have to be doing right now. >> final question, we know that wadea's is hospitalize. she was also a victim of that heinous tapping. did you have any opportunity to speak with his that, who has spoken out about what he hopes that his son's memory can do to make things better? >> you know, his dad spoke when
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i was right there, right next to him, and i heard his words. he spoken arabic. i did not understand most of them, but i don't want to quote. i don't want to quote, because my arabic is bad, but i heard him say words like. i heard him say jew and a muslim and christian. i think what he was saying was that we need to figure out a way to come together. i think that is what he was saying. i can't be 100% sure, but that is what i heard in his words. i also heard his pain. part of the reason was to witness, as a rabbi, to witness the horrific suffering and cry alongside those that are suffering. as i said, there is so much brokenness, so much pain right now. whatever positive things we can do, i implore everybody, whatever little bit of light you can add, now is the time, at the light. >> i think that we are different faiths, but you can get an amen for that. rabbi heart, thank you so much for being here. we'll be right back.
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>> and that is tonight's read out. be sure to join me tomorrow night. my friend and colleague, rachel maddow, joins me right here on set to discuss her new book precool, an american fight against fascism. you do not want to miss it. all in with chris hayes starts right now. right now. >> tonight on all in -- >>
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